Syria: Ten Reasons Why We Oppose Intervention

25 June 2013
Stop the WarCoalition
Syria

1

 Intervention in Syria will have huge regional and global consequences. The conflict is already spreading to Lebanon and Turkey, and could spark a regional war involving Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Iran. As former UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan put it, “Syria is not Libya, it will not implode, it will explode beyond its borders.”

2

 Over the last ten years the War on Terror has drastically destabilised the Middle East. The intervention of the United States and its allies brought nothing but blood and destruction to Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no reason think the outcome will be any different in Syria.

3

 Foreign intervention will deny the Syrian people the right to determine their own future. It will place the opposition leadership in the hands of the western powers and their allies, who will act in their own interests.

4

 Assad’s appalling record on human rights has not worried the western powers in the past. The US sent detainees for interrogation and torture to Syria as part of the “global war on terror.” Syrian warplanes also joined the US in attacking Iraq in 1991.

5

 The West’s main allies in the intervention, particularly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have no interest in democracy in the Middle East. They are among the most authoritarian regimes in the region and they have done their best to crush the democracy movement.

6

 The US and its allies are already intervening with arms, money and covert action. Early this year President Obama authorised the CIA to support the opposition in trying to topple the Assad regime. This can only inflame what the Red Cross acknowledges is now a civil war.

7

 If the US and UK were really concerned about promoting democracy in the region, they would not besupplying weapons to the tyrannies in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

8

 The US has repeatedly undermined diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the conflict. It has for example demanded that the Security Council vote under Chapter 7, which set the stage for military intervention, and refused negotiations that include Iran.

9

 The 2011 intervention in Libya begun with a no-fly zone. It dramatically increased the rate of killing; tens of thousands died following it. The same will happen in Syria.

10

 An attack on Iran remains the ultimate goal for the US. Intervention in Syria is a stepping stone toward that goal.

http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/syria/2558-syria-ten-reasons-why-we-oppose-intervention